Harvest Coffee Bar’s newest location incorporates a brunch restaurant and a drive-thru located on Ste. 100 off William D. Fitch Pkwy.
The third Harvest coffee shop opened in the Caprock developments of South College Station. Customers can enjoy coffee and Cajun-style breakfast at the conjoined restaurant, Uptown Brunch, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Locals Trey and Ashley Martin have been in the coffee business since 2014 when they opened the original Harvest in Downtown Bryan. General Manager Jenna Karrer offers insight into the order-at-the-counter restaurant, which she said was inspired by New Orleans’ Uptown Garden District.
“[The Martins] traveled there and loved the environment and atmosphere and that fun eclectic food-oriented town,” Karrer said. “Everything we have is really from New Orleans. Those windows [are] several hundred years old. It’s meant to feel like you’re sitting on a front porch in New Orleans.”
The couple, along with staff, created the menu for Uptown Brunch, which consists of Louisiana classics from beignets to boudin balls. Despite some technical issues early on, the drive-thru is up and running from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a speaker board to “speed up the process,” Karrer said.
Uptown manager Andreya Varnell joined Harvest two years ago to “help expand the business and grow,” Karrer said.
“If [customers are] not able to come in for whatever reason, they’re still able to get Harvest coffee that they know and love very quickly,” Varnell said.
The kitchen serves as the prep location for the other Harvests in Bryan and Century Square, and values freshness, Karrer said. An assortment of pastries including blueberry oat bread, cinnamon rolls and almond danishes are prepared in-house, according to their online menu.
“Harvest prides itself on high-quality, fresh ingredients,” Karrer said. “We’re not opening up packages and throwing it together. It’s good food that speaks a lot for itself.”
Harvest’s extensive menu is what sets it apart from other coffee shops in the area, Karrer said. Using beans from Amaya Coffee roasters in Houston, she said coffee brewing is “more science oriented than people think.”
“A lot of thought goes into what we make, how we make it [and] the process it’s prepared in,” Varnell said. “Lots of thought and knowledge has gone into how we grind the beans, how we pull the shots [and] how we texture the milk to make Harvest what it is.”
The Martins view themselves as “dreamers” in the food industry, Karrer said.
“Trey and Ashley truly care about their people,” Varnell said. “Whether you’re brand new or you’ve been with us for five years, they treat you like you’re family. The people that work here are phenomenal.”
Varnell said in a joking way that by now, the Martins can “open up Harvest locations in their sleep.”
“We just want to do our part to make Bryan College Station a better place to live, visit, build your family [and] come to college,” Trey said. “It’s been kind of a sleepy little town for a while, and now it’s starting to quickly climb out of that. Ultimately, we love serving people.”
